


Butterfly Wings

by lalalathisisme



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Mentions of Laura, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 16:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1134729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalalathisisme/pseuds/lalalathisisme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for this prompt: I want Derek Hale to have like the cutest tattoo ever. Like on his hip. And it’s a secret. And it shows how much of a marshmallow he is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Butterfly Wings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Swing Set in December (swing_set13)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/swing_set13/gifts).



Stiles tries very hard not to ogle at Derek whenever he pulls his shirt off (or more often than not, has his shirt ripped to shreds due to the monster-of-the-week), because while they may be sort-of-friends (or something) now, that doesn't mean that Derek would be comfortable with Stiles eye-fucking his naked chest, what with Derek's relationship issues...and the fact that Stiles is underage...and also that whole 'not-really-out-of-the-closet-about-his-bisexuality-plus-everyone-still-assumes-he-loves-Lydia-still' thing. And that's why Stiles didn't notice the tattoo for the first 5 years of his acquaintance with Derek – that's his story and he's sticking to it. 

He noticed it by accident one afternoon when he burst into Derek's loft, flipping through thick stack of papers, talking a mile a minute about how he's pretty sure he figured out what's causing the weird vibrations throughout the town when he runs into Derek because he wasn't watching where he was going.

“Woah, dude. You saw me coming!” Stiles groaned as he lay on the floor where he fell, his carefully organized papers all over the floor around him.  
“It amazes me how you're able to make a mess within seconds of coming into my apartment.” Stiles cracked his eye open, giving Derek his best stink-eye, when his eye caught on a mark on Derek's hip that looked vaguely like a butterfly wing, that came just above Derek's jeans.  
“What's on your hip? Did you fall asleep on the couch and Isaac drew on you?” Stiles hoisted himself up off of the floor, papers forgotten. He was so intent on trying to see the mark, that he missed the way that Derek flushed. Derek pushed Stiles' face away from his chest.  
“It's nothing. It's probably some dirt. You know me, I don't shower or anything because I'm an animal.” He said in a flat voice.  
“Oh ho, look who's got a sense of humor!” Stiles smiled, but he dropped it, for now. He'd figure out what it was. Because there was NO WAY that Derek Hale had a butterfly tattoo on his hip. 

Stiles made it his mission from then on, to figure out what was on Derek's hip. The problem though, was that that meant that Stiles had to pay attention when Derek's shirt was off – something that Stiles had FINALLY (sort of) gotten the hang of not doing. Even worse, is as the weeks went on, it became apparent that the only way Stiles would ever see the entirety of the mystery tattoo is if he was able to see Derek naked. And Stiles wasn't sure he would ever be prepared to see Derek naked for the sake of looking at a tattoo on his hip. 

Stiles' chance to see the tattoo finally did come, just not in the way that he was expecting it. He was patching Derek up (patching is the nice way of saying putting the pieces of Derek's body back together after another horrific fight), and he had to take Derek's pants off to help move along the healing of the long gash in Derek's leg. He wasn't even thinking about the tattoo, more about the fact that Derek wasn't healing as fast as he should, when he suddenly saw the whole thing. It was a picture of a blue-eyed beta wolf, with butterfly wings. Stiles stopped what he was doing, he couldn't help it, as his jaw dropped. He probably stared at it for a good 20 seconds before he remembered that Derek could possibly be dying. The questions could wait. 

A week later, when Derek was fully healed and back to his normal self, Stiles flopped down on the couch next to Derek and stared at him until Derek sighed.  
“What.” Derek asked.  
“I feel like, because I saved your life, you should tell me what the wolf with the butterfly wings symbolizes.” This time, because Stiles' eyes aren't leaving Derek's face, Stiles sees Derek's blush.  
“I don't know what you're talking about.”  
“The tattoo on your hip that I saw when I was nursing you back to health. Don't try to tell me I hallucinated because I WILL take your pants off right now.” Derek raised an eyebrow at Stiles.   
“I was never dying. I just wasn't healing that fast.”  
“I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE TATTOO.” Stiles shouted, his curiosity getting the better of him; bubbling over.  
“What have we said about using our outdoor voices inside?”  
““Oh please, like you're one to talk about doing outdoor things inside. Besides, I won't tell anyone. Nurse-Patient confidentiality and all that.””  
“You're not a nurse though.” Derek pointed out.  
“Oh come on, you got something tattoo'd onto your body. It's too late to be embarrassed about it. You know what they say about tattoos, right? That they're permanent.” Derek sighed deeply before slumping back into the couch.  
“Fine.”  
“Yes!” Stiles fist pumped.  
“After the fire... When Laura and I went to New York, she decided that we should get matching tattoos, because we were the only ones left. But we couldn't decide what to get. She kept suggesting a butterfly, because we were coming out of our 'cocoon' and evolving and changing and putting our past selves behind us and all that jazz, like a butterfly, but every time she said this, she always had this evil smirk on her face. I'm still sure it was because she just wanted to get something stupid and girly and wanted to make me get one too because that's what she did when we were growing up – make my life hell. But I told her under no circumstances would I get a butterfly tattoo. We should get wolves, to remind us of our family and our heritage and pack. I think she realized that I was being serious about what I wanted. So then we compromised. The seriousness of our situation with us still trying to be normal and stupid. Mine has blue eyes, because I was her beta.” Derek pulled up his shirt and shoved down his sweatpants so that Stiles could see it again (this time without blood on it). “Hers had red eyes, because she was now my alpha.” Derek dropped his shirt back down and crossed his arms.   
“Oh wow. You're kind of a fluffy marshmallow.” Stiles said in awe.  
“I am not a marshmallow.”  
“Dude, you kind of are. You let yourself get butterfly wings tattoo'd onto your body for your sister.”  
“They're on a wolf. They're more bad-ass that way.”  
“No they're not!” Stiles said with a laugh. “But I like it. I don't think you should hide it. I think you should embrace the gay wolf on your side.” Derek raised his eyebrow again at Stiles. “Not like I have a problem with being gay or anything, I love gay wolves. Not like I know any gay wolves. But I wish I did because I'm kind of gay so gay wolves would be good for me not like I'm saying I want to be with a wolf because bestiality, but a gay werewolf would be nice, because, like, you're so strong and stuff and I'm going to stop talking now.” Stiles' face flushed as Derek's other eyebrow raised up.   
“Ignore me.” Stiles said, his voice muffled by his arm thrown across his face as he flops face-first onto Derek's couch, missing the way Derek's face softens into a smile.


End file.
